Maniapoto iwi receives Covid-delayed apology
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has apologised to Ngā ti Maniapoto for more than 150 years of Treaty breaches.
It marks an end to more than 30 years of negotiations to reach a settlement with the King Country iwi.
Ardern told about 3000 people at Te Kuiti Pā the Crown regretted the pain and hurt it caused to Maniapoto through war and aggressively acquiring huge areas of the iwi’s land.
Ardern said the ceremony was delayed because of Covid-19 but the Crown was now making a commitment it could uphold.
“For more than 180 years your people have carried the hurt, grievance and suffering as a direct result of the Crown’s actions that left you disadvantaged in your own whenua.
“The Crown ignored and denied the prejudice it caused Maniapoto. The apology I deliver to you today is long overdue.”
Ardern said while the Crown was taking responsibility for the way it had acted, it was also an opportunity to look ahead.
“While we have listened and heard the pain and the hurt of Maniapoto, we have also heard your aspirations for your people and the future.
“It is only through these conversations that the groundwork for reconciliation can be laid.”
Maniapoto elders have welcomed the apology, but have warned future governments and officials not to forget their promises.
As well as the apology, Ngāti Maniapoto will receive $177 million and a range of other redress.
Members of the iwi were at Parliament in September for the third and final reading of their settlement. Cheers roared through Parliament and Pipitea Marae in Wellington when the deal was secured. Settlement entity Te Nehenehenui’s chair Bella Takiari-Brame said at the time the negotiations of the past 30 years have been difficult.